On playing Cora in The Sinner; facing her personal challenges and exploring her dark side: “I have challenges standing up for myself sometimes. Times when I don’t trust my own voice. And that’s the stuff I needed to bring out and explore to understand Cora. [exploring her dark side] “It’s like a drug, like an adrenaline rush. There’s a real catharsis. …you’re exhausted, you are free; you feel a lot of different things. For me, it’s like a rebirth. Like I’m a phoenix rising up out of the ashes.”

On her Hollywood experience as a child actor: “My Hollywood experience as a young person was never one of those True Hollywood stories where I was left alone to my own devices with no parental supervision,” says Biel. “There was always somebody with me.”

What makes her and husband Justin Timberlake work: “We have similar values; we believe in loyalty, honesty. We like to have fun. We like a lot of the same things. Also, in the business, we’re all very career-oriented, and you have to be a little selfish. I understand that about my peers—about being focused and driven—and if you can find that and someone who shares the same values as you, it’s like: Score!”

What she’s learned from motherhood: “You think you’re a selfless person, and then you realize you’re not. These little people come around, and they require so much, and your schedule is really not your own, nor is it important anymore, and it’s very clear that it’s your life now revolving around this dude. I’m not that person who feels like, Oh, my whole life changes for my kid, but it does.”